The Salt Lake City Planning Commission on Wednesday forwarded a positive recommendation to the City Council on Expanding Housing Options, the city’s most significant rewrite of its single-family zoning rules in more than 30 years. It passed unanimously.

The proposal, known as EHO, creates a new land use called “small lot dwellings.” It would allow small single-family homes, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and townhomes of up to four units on lots with as little as 2,000 square feet per unit. 

The proposed zoning overhaul would apply in the R-1/5,000, R-1/7,000, R-1/12,000, R-2, SR-1 and SR-1A zones, which cover over 37,000 properties.

The vote came two weeks after the commission’s first hearing on Sept. 9, when a public noticing error kept commissioners from forwarding a recommendation. Staff made no changes to the proposal between the two meetings.

The Planning Commission sets the stage for the City Council to decide whether to join other cities in drastically updating its zoning in an attempt to create more housing supply to address unprecedentedly high home prices.

The City Council, which initiated the effort in March 2025, has final authority. It will hold a briefing and its own public hearing before voting, possibly before the end of the year.

Small lot dwellings would be a permitted use, meaning no planning petition or public hearing would be required if the proposal meets the updated zoning code. 

The rules would sit alongside the existing zoning rather than replace it. Owners could still build a larger single-family home or addition under the base zone standards.

The ordinance recognizes five building types: single-family homes, two-family and twin homes, multi-family buildings, row houses and “sideways” row houses that run perpendicular to the street. Buildings are capped at one unit for single-family, two for two-family and twin homes, and four for multi-family and row houses.

Every unit needs 2,000 square feet of lot area. That means a fourplex would require an 8,000-square-foot lot if it can meet setback and parking requirements, or 6,000 square feet if an existing home is kept on site through the ordinance’s preservation bonus.

City staff estimates about 35% of affected properties have enough open space to fit at least one small lot dwelling. That analysis subtracted each home’s footprint plus a 10-foot buffer and 10 feet along each property line. It did not account for trees, slope, utilities or fire access.

The proposal would not require any of the new units built under the new rules to be owner-occupied.

The size limits are the core of the proposal. A small single-family home could have a footprint of up to 1,000 square feet. Other building types are capped at 850 square feet of footprint per unit, or 1,200 square feet per ground-floor unit when units are stacked.

Interior floor area is capped at 1,200 square feet per unit for buildings taller than 17 feet. Buildings 17 feet or shorter can have up to 1,700 square feet per unit. Staff says 1,200 square feet can fit a three-bedroom, two-bathroom layout.

Commissioners weighed the caps at a June work session, where a majority preferred to keep them rather than add space for three-bedroom homes.

Setbacks apply to the perimeter of the development, not to each building within it. Front and corner side yards must be landscaped.

Small lot dwellings would require one off-street parking space per unit, matching the city’s ADU and AHI rules. Parking can be on any lot within the development. Public comments pushed in both directions, with some calling for two spaces per unit and others for no minimum. The commission split on the question at its June work session and left the requirement unchanged.

EHO also rewrites the base zoning for the R-1, R-2 and SR districts:

• Height: Maximum height would rise to 30 feet for pitched roofs, up 2 feet, and 24 feet for flat roofs, up 4 feet. In the lower-height SR-1A zone, limits would rise to 25 and 20 feet. The separate cap on exterior wall height would be eliminated.
• Pitched roofs: To qualify for the taller pitched-roof limit, a roof would need at least two planes sloping down toward the exterior walls. Staff added that change after residents worried about tall, flat-looking walls.
• Setbacks: Side yards would be 4 feet on one side and 10 on the other in all affected zones. Front yards would be 20 feet or match an abutting front yard, ending the practice of averaging the block face.
• Coverage: Maximum building coverage would rise to 50% in each affected zone.
• Lot width: Minimum lot width requirements would be removed, which staff says would make some noncomplying and unbuildable lots legal.
• Duplexes: The minimum lot area for duplexes and twin homes in the R-2 and SR-1 zones would drop from 8,000 to 5,000 square feet. A rule limiting how many duplexes can sit side by side on a block face would be removed.
• Flag lots: Flag lots would be allowed without a conditional use hearing, though a subdivision process would still apply. The minimum access strip would narrow from 24 to 20 feet, and flag lots could hold any permitted use, including small lot dwellings.

The ordinance would let owners create lots without public street frontage for small lot dwellings without going through a planned development. A final subdivision plat would still be required, showing access to a public street by easement, shared driveway or alley. Units could sit on the same lot, separate lots or be sold as condominiums.

Planned developments could not be used to modify any small lot dwelling standard. Staff made that change after residents worried developers could use the process to exceed the size caps or shrink setbacks.

Small lot dwellings within 15 feet of a public alley would need a 4-foot path from the alley to the entrance, with a gate if there is a fence. They would also need a shielded, downward-facing exterior light to illuminate the alley.

Other design rules include:

• Units facing a public street must have a ground-floor entrance on the street-facing facade with an entry feature.
• Attached garages facing a street can take up no more than half the width of the front facade.
• Multi-family buildings and sideways row houses need at least 15% glass on street- and alley-facing facades.
• Sideways row houses cannot have garage doors facing the street, and their street-facing ground floor must hold a use other than parking at least 10 feet deep.

Staff projects modest uptake. Since ADUs became permitted by right in 2023, 83 have been completed. Since AHI was adopted in 2024, 19 units on five properties have received building permits.

Staff called a 1% utilization rate over five years a “generous” projection. That would mean 373 properties adding at least one small lot dwelling. Durham saw 215 small lot dwellings built over four years, according to the report.

Email Taylor Anderson